Thermochemical processing of biomass through pyrolysis requires the use of expensive catalysts that are quickly deactivated by chemical fouling. The Thermochemical technologies team focuses on advanced nanomaterials-based membranes, sorbents, and catalysts for selective removal of target component(s) from thermochemical (TC) streams of interest by applying selective separations and/or reactive separations to enhance TC processing economics.

Tasks include:

• Molecular removal technology for pre-processing of liquid bio-oils
• Integrated dewatering technology for TC aqueous streams
• Reactive membrane processing intensification (in situ water separation during alcohol dehydration reaction)
• Catalytic hot gas filtration